Russell-Cooke announces a spring crop of senior associate promotions

Russell-Cooke has announced seven promotions to senior associate to take effect 1 July 2022. The firm is promoting six women and one man to the role.

The associates being promoted are:

Nimmisha Aslam, personal injury and clinical negligence

Nimmisha is an experienced personal injury and clinical negligence solicitor advising clients on a wide spectrum of claims involving both physical and psychological injuries. She takes on interesting and challenging cases and has a particular interest in the evolving law relating to the defence of illegality in civil claims.  She is the lead solicitor in the PI team acting for 33 people injured in the Grenfell Tower fire, working collaboratively with other lawyers in the group action. Nimmisha joined Russell-Cooke as a paralegal in 2012, qualifying into the PI team in 2016.

Clare Garbett, charities and social businesses

Clare advises a wide range of charities and not-for-profit organisations on property law as part of our dedicated charity and social business team. She specialises in advising charities on sales, purchases, leases, licences, mortgages, resolving title issues, special trusts issues, protection of open space, community asset transfers and much more. Her clients range from parks and palaces to local community organisations to sports clubs. She also carries out the legal side of managing the property portfolios of some major charities. Clare joined Russell-Cooke as a trainee in 2012 and qualified into the team in 2014.  

Pauline Lam, property and housing litigation

Pauline specialises in property dispute resolution and avoidance for businesses, charities and individuals. She provides solutions for clients who encounter issues with a property element. Pauline acts in boundary and development disputes covering restrictive covenant, easement, trespass and nuisance. Her expertise includes long leasehold issues such as breaches of covenants and service charges disputes including applications for determination of reasonableness of service charges, consultation dispensation and appointment of managers. She increasingly advises on cladding remediation and building fire safety works in residential and commercial properties with a focus on representing tenants, groups of leaseholders and right-to-manage companies.

Andrew Morgan, trusts and estate disputes

Andrew advises in relation to succession, probate and trust disputes.  His work spans claims pursuant to the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, domicile disputes, will challenges, will construction and rectification claims, property trust disputes and trust, estate and administration issues.  Andrew is recognised in the Legal 500 (2022) and is a member of ConTrA, the network for Contentious Trust Associates.

Lara Murrell, residential conveyancing

Lara advises on the full range of residential matters including purchases, sales, mortgages, new leases and lease extensions outside of the 1993 Act regime. She acts for a wide range of clients including high net worth individuals, first time buyers, investors and corporates. Lara is known for her positive “can do” attitude and her commercial and creative mind set when it comes to tackling difficult issues.

Jade Quirke, children law

Jade practices in all areas of children law and specialises in assisted reproduction, surrogacy and adoption law. She advises clients on a broad range of domestic and international issues including child arrangements, relocation disputes, known donor/co-parenting arrangements, parental orders and intercountry adoption. She is particularly experienced in advising non-traditional and LGBTQ+ families and advises on matters such as legal parenthood and parental responsibility. Jade often appears before the High Court in complex and ground-breaking cases and has spoken at many events on issues relating to children, fertility and surrogacy law.

Partner Janice Gardner who leads the senior associate cohort said: “We have a bumper crop of senior associate promotions this spring. The range of expertise they bring demonstrates just some of the breadth of our practice, and the diversity of the clients that we act for. The associates who will be taking on the role of senior associate at the beginning of the next financial year have demonstrated even throughout the past two very difficult years of the pandemic that they have the client skills and the supervisory skills that are needed for this role, which is a very significant one within the firm. I wish them all the very best of luck.”